Bitnik, an artist collective based in Zurich, Switzerland, said that its parcel contains “a cell phone, camera and battery pack. Through [the] hole in the packet the camera takes pictures of the packet's surroundings and uploads them to our website.”

Domajgoj Smoljo, a Swiss media artist who is part of the group, told Ars via Skype from London that the group sees the project as a “radical real-time” piece of performance art. “We see the camera as something which produces a performance stage, where [Assange] can interact with the public,” he said. “We think Assange knows how to deal with this situation. We are happy if he just holds it outside of his room and pretends it’s normal.”

He said the group was inspired by other 4chan/Anonymous-style gags, which involved sending pizzas and taxis to the Ecuadorian Embassy on the day that Assange received asylum.

“So we have this diplomatic crisis, with the UK government trying to arrest him as soon as he leaves,” Smoljo said. “We wanted to discuss this in an artistic way and feature this discussion inside, with our artistic impression. We’re not activists, we don’t have to claim a political position. We are artists. But, we can go inside and try to create a situation where things are possible.”

For now, the package appears to be “on a sofa,” but the group warns that the battery will run out in six hours—in which case, they say they will send another package, complete with camera, phone, and battery.

UPDATE (12:38pm CT): Assange seems to have received the package, and is toying with the audience with messages like this:

Cyrus Farivar
Cyrus is a Senior Tech Policy Reporter at Ars Technica, and is also a radio producer and author. His latest book, Habeas Data, about the legal cases over the last 50 years that have had an outsized impact on surveillance and privacy law in America, is due out in May 2018 from Melville House. He is based in Oakland, California. Emailcyrus.farivar@arstechnica.com//Twitter@cfarivar

58 Reader Comments

I wonder how pissed off the various more established bureaucrats in government are getting at this whole 'technology' thing. While I find this article pretty amusing, this couldn't have been dreamed of fifty years ago. Instant communications? A box that would have seemed James Bond'ish thirty years ago? What is this 'Internet'?

I think governments are probably none too happy their increasing inability to control information.

I wonder how happy the Ecuadorian government is to learn that a group of foreigners are transmitting images out of their embassy?I know many countries would be somewhat displeased about that.Would Ecuador extradite J-Ass to their country for the espionage charges?

For all the people upset about this being defined as "art", hear me out.

Modern art has evolved with the times, meaning that self-expression has so many more possible forms of media. An artistic medium hundreds of years ago would have been paint and paper, wood, textile...The usual. But as time went on the need for different forms of expression developed, and they mimicked the changes in society. Today, performance art can mean anything. That's both good and bad, though. It means you can go on YouTube and find a video of a girl putting spaghetti-o's in various orifices of her body in front of a crowded room of hipsters in New York (I'm not kidding...), but it also means people use modern technology in ways that weren't necessarily intended. An item that would have one day been seen as a spy gadget or something similar is now used in a more creative way, to give someone a new access point to the outside world.

Yes, he has a phone, yes, he has everything that he has, but that wasn't the point. This group did something original with technology, which I think that we should be more appreciative of. No, it's not going to free Assange, or free Bradley Manning, or really do anything tangible like that. Instead, they provided Assange with a way to express himself that was pretty creative, and I think that's cool.

Before you start calling me some artsy hipster or something, know that I'm writing this from the desk of my dev job. I just thought I could be a sort of devil's advocate for the discussion.

For all the people upset about this being defined as "art", hear me out.

Modern art has evolved with the times, meaning that self-expression has so many more possible forms of media. An artistic medium hundreds of years ago would have been paint and paper, wood, textile...The usual. But as time went on the need for different forms of expression developed, and they mimicked the changes in society. Today, performance art can mean anything. That's both good and bad, though. It means you can go on YouTube and find a video of a girl putting spaghetti-o's in various orifices of her body in front of a crowded room of hipsters in New York (I'm not kidding...), but it also means people use modern technology in ways that weren't necessarily intended. An item that would have one day been seen as a spy gadget or something similar is now used in a more creative way, to give someone a new access point to the outside world.

Yes, he has a phone, yes, he has everything that he has, but that wasn't the point. This group did something original with technology, which I think that we should be more appreciative of. No, it's not going to free Assange, or free Bradley Manning, or really do anything tangible like that. Instead, they provided Assange with a way to express himself that was pretty creative, and I think that's cool.

Before you start calling me some artsy hipster or something, know that I'm writing this from the desk of my dev job. I just thought I could be a sort of devil's advocate for the discussion.

Well that's the great thing about art. I get to decide whether I like it or not. I can even decide that I don't think it's art at all, because there are no licensing or certification requirements to become an art critic.

For all the people upset about this being defined as "art", hear me out.

Modern art has evolved with the times, meaning that self-expression has so many more possible forms of media. An artistic medium hundreds of years ago would have been paint and paper, wood, textile...The usual. But as time went on the need for different forms of expression developed, and they mimicked the changes in society. Today, performance art can mean anything. That's both good and bad, though. It means you can go on YouTube and find a video of a girl putting spaghetti-o's in various orifices of her body in front of a crowded room of hipsters in New York (I'm not kidding...), but it also means people use modern technology in ways that weren't necessarily intended. An item that would have one day been seen as a spy gadget or something similar is now used in a more creative way, to give someone a new access point to the outside world.

Yes, he has a phone, yes, he has everything that he has, but that wasn't the point. This group did something original with technology, which I think that we should be more appreciative of. No, it's not going to free Assange, or free Bradley Manning, or really do anything tangible like that. Instead, they provided Assange with a way to express himself that was pretty creative, and I think that's cool.

Before you start calling me some artsy hipster or something, know that I'm writing this from the desk of my dev job. I just thought I could be a sort of devil's advocate for the discussion.

So in other words, they're masturbating. A pleasurable activity with no real purpose.

For all the people upset about this being defined as "art", hear me out.

Modern art has evolved with the times, meaning that self-expression has so many more possible forms of media. An artistic medium hundreds of years ago would have been paint and paper, wood, textile...The usual. But as time went on the need for different forms of expression developed, and they mimicked the changes in society. Today, performance art can mean anything. That's both good and bad, though. It means you can go on YouTube and find a video of a girl putting spaghetti-o's in various orifices of her body in front of a crowded room of hipsters in New York (I'm not kidding...), but it also means people use modern technology in ways that weren't necessarily intended. An item that would have one day been seen as a spy gadget or something similar is now used in a more creative way, to give someone a new access point to the outside world.

Yes, he has a phone, yes, he has everything that he has, but that wasn't the point. This group did something original with technology, which I think that we should be more appreciative of. No, it's not going to free Assange, or free Bradley Manning, or really do anything tangible like that. Instead, they provided Assange with a way to express himself that was pretty creative, and I think that's cool.

Before you start calling me some artsy hipster or something, know that I'm writing this from the desk of my dev job. I just thought I could be a sort of devil's advocate for the discussion.

So in other words, they're masturbating. A pleasurable activity with no real purpose.

I just have to say that (for me) finding a new use for current technology isnt art. If the new use produces somehting moving or inspiring then I will cal it art. Simply taking an electric toothbrush and using it as a sex toy doesnt mean we should make news articles about it an clap our hands.

Besides its not even a new use they have come up with. research teams exploring the depths of the ocean have used the same idea for decades.

For all the people upset about this being defined as "art", hear me out.

Modern art has evolved with the times, meaning that self-expression has so many more possible forms of media. An artistic medium hundreds of years ago would have been paint and paper, wood, textile...The usual. But as time went on the need for different forms of expression developed, and they mimicked the changes in society. Today, performance art can mean anything. That's both good and bad, though. It means you can go on YouTube and find a video of a girl putting spaghetti-o's in various orifices of her body in front of a crowded room of hipsters in New York (I'm not kidding...), but it also means people use modern technology in ways that weren't necessarily intended. An item that would have one day been seen as a spy gadget or something similar is now used in a more creative way, to give someone a new access point to the outside world.

Yes, he has a phone, yes, he has everything that he has, but that wasn't the point. This group did something original with technology, which I think that we should be more appreciative of. No, it's not going to free Assange, or free Bradley Manning, or really do anything tangible like that. Instead, they provided Assange with a way to express himself that was pretty creative, and I think that's cool.

Before you start calling me some artsy hipster or something, know that I'm writing this from the desk of my dev job. I just thought I could be a sort of devil's advocate for the discussion.

While the range of art media has expanded, art still needs a fundamental and creative idea. A camera phone may be a valid item for artistic use, but to me this looks no more inspired than the kind of technically weak watercolor I could toss off in a few minutes with no talent. Does it show mastery of communication? No. Mastery of the technology? No, 6 hours life, really? If a camera phone is a valid piece of artistic material, the method of its use is equally subject to criticism on the nature of that use just like the method of use of paint on canvas.

For all the people upset about this being defined as "art", hear me out.

I'm perfectly happy to acknowledge this as art, if mediocre.

trillyourself wrote:

Modern art has evolved with the times, meaning that self-expression has so many more possible forms of media.

The media may have, but the art itself hasn't evolved, the themes are the same insipid dreck that have been playing like a broken record for fifty years. Plenty of it is technically sophisticated, but they've got nothing new to say.

What bothers me is it may well be a faithful reflection of the modern social consciousness. That's just depressing.

Manning may be a criminal by the letter of US law, but there is a strong argument for the fact that his actions were just, or ethically justifiable, in helping expose misconduct.

Assange is currently without a doubt is guilty of is his failure to comply with the decision from the British Courts. His guilt regarding the allegations of his sexual crimes remains to be determined.

Wow! I totally missed all of that news about Peyton Manning. The worst I've heard is that he threw a few interceptions this year. I suppose he's probably rolled a few stop signs, maybe didn't get a few things exactly right on a tax return, but we all do that stuff. Generally he seems to be regarded as a pretty good guy though ( as is his little brother).

Wow! I totally missed all of that news about Peyton Manning. The worst I've heard is that he threw a few interceptions this year. I suppose he's probably rolled a few stop signs, maybe didn't get a few things exactly right on a tax return, but we all do that stuff. Generally he seems to be regarded as a pretty good guy though ( as is his little brother).

I just assumed urkle meant Bradley Manning, because referring to the NFL player makes no sense.

So, if you're a bizarre, sideways-thinking individual who's thought patterns occur so far outside of the box that the box itself is only a speck on the horizon, move to Sweden, where your abnormal tendencies, in comparison with the rest of the populace, will seem commonplace, or even boring.

I think governments are probably none too happy their increasing inability to control information.

Not really the secrey culture in the US is doing just fine. Assage just inconvienenced them for a bit. The things our government keeps secret isn't a big talking point in elections, so they're really winning as far as I'm concerned.